Masonry guide apparatus



July 9, 1963 P. R. COOK MAsoNRY GUIDE APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG.3

Filed June 22, 1959 FIG.2

INVENToR. PA U L R c o o K yj-QQOQ/ ATTORNEYS A Y, A kwkA/AM July 9, 1963 P. R. cooK MAsoNRY GUIDE: APPARATUS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 22, 1959 FIG'S FIG. Il

FIG.8

JNVENTOR.

PAUL R. c 00K ATTORNEYS l l n `on them or attached thereto.

United States Patent O 3,096,588 MASONRY GUIDE APPARATUS Paul R. Cook, 1705 Belmont Ave., Apt. 601, Seattle, Wash. Filed June 22, 1959, Ser. No. 822,063 1 Claim. (Cl. 33-85) 'Ille present invention relates to improved masonry guides for use in the laying of masonry wall units such as brick, stone, cast stone, concrete, cinder-concrete blocks, glass blocks, hollow tile, glazed facing tile, etc.` While my apparatus is intended for use with all such various types of masonry units, it is particularly adapted for lbrick, and hence -for convenience and brevity of expression the term brick will be hereinafter used in the generic sense.

It has long been recognized in the building trade that the labor costs incident to masonry construction have impeded greater use thereof. The tart of laying bricks and stones has required a high degree of skill acquired only after extensive periods of apprenticeship for those having natural `aptitude and capable of devoting great attention lto detail.

The co-nventional method of building a wall has lbeen to build the corners first, stretch a` line between the courses of the built up corners, and lay bricks to this line. Consequently, various corner guide devices, often called speed leads, deadmen, or corner poles in the bricklaying trade, have from time to time been used. These corner guides normally involve the use of standards set up at the corners of the building and having course markings Guide lines for the brickcorners are stretched between the poles on line blocks which are moved upwardly therealong in accordance with the course markings.

The standards for a corner guide system must be kept in plumb and yet should not as in the past require the use of braces or guy lines which are susceptible to being dislodged by workmen or mobile equipment on the job. Accordingly the present invention aims to provide improved guides of simple and economical construction which can be readily placed in operative position with a minimum of effort and do not require the use of auxiliary supports to keep them in such position.

With yet additional objects and advantages in view which, with the foregoing, will appear and be understood -in the course of the following description and claim, the invention consists in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the yaccompanying drawings:

FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 are fragmentary perspective views of 'my outside corner, intermediate, and inside corner guides, respectively, in operative position with the related building structure shown in phantom.V

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical sectional view taken along the line 4 4 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken as indicated by the line 5-5 of FIG. 4. Y

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the outside corner guide.

\FIG. 7 is an enlarged perspective view of the guide line holder.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view illustrating the guide line holder on the collar. j j

lFIG. 9 is a perspective 4view of the spacing attachment.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the outer standard of a -modiiied guide using a stud as the inner standard,

FIG. 1l is a perspective view of the modified guide in operative position.

Referring to the drawings it is seen that corner guides 10-11 are provided for outside and inside corners, re-

lspectively, together with an intermediate guide 12. The

pole portions of these guides are identical and comprise outer and inner -telescoping tubular standards 13-1-4 of square cross-section. The outer standard 13 is located at the bottom and may have intertting extension sections 13a -for multiple stories, the interiit being accomplished by a projecting tubular neck 13b which is welded at the bottom ofthe extension section. For purposes of the following explanation the term outer standard will be considered to include extension sections.

To permit height adjustment 4the outer standard is purposely made a few inches shorter than the desired wall height. In this regard a cross-pin .15 traverses the outer standard toward the top thereof to lserve as a stop for a height adjusting mechanism mounted on the inner standard. This mechanism comprises a .compression spring 16 depending by a weld connection from the lower end of the inner standard and having a nut 17 welded at its lower end, and an elongated adjusting bolt l18 threaded into said nut. The head 19 of this bolt bears downwardly against the stop 15 and extends upwardly through the spring 16 into the inner standard. It can be readily seen that the effective length of the inner standard is increased by the length of the spring Iplus the downwardly screwed portion of the nut. As will shortly be explained, when the yguides are in use the rela-ted spring is compressed to help hold the guide in position.

The guides 10-12 are each provided with guide line blocks or holders 20 which are sleeved thereon and held in selected position by a thumb screw 21. These holders are best viewed in FIG. 7 wherein it is seen that each has a pair of cleats 22 adjacent diagonally opposite corners and a pair of arm flanges 23 projecting iat right angles to respective faces adjacent one of -the other corners of the holder. One or more notches 24 are provided in the arm lian-ges for receiving guide lines. So that the line holders can be used along the full length of the guides the inner standards `are provided with movable collars 25 corresponding in cross-section to the outer standards.

These collars have holes 26 to receive the thumb screws 21 so that when a holder reaches the top of one of the outer standards it can be sleeved over the collar as shown in FIG. 8 and moved therewith to selected posi-tions along the inner standard.

The differences between my guides reside in various head and foot plate constructions which are mounted on the inner and outer standards thereof. The foot plate 27 of the outer corner guide projects diagonally and has an upstanding angle piece 28 `to present brick engageable flanges paralleling opposite faces of the standards and having their apex diagonally spaced a relatively short distance from one corner thereof. At its upper end the outer corner guide has a rigidly mounted head plate 30 with an upstanding angle piece 31 for engaging intersecting freeze boards 32. This piece 31 faces the same direction as the lower `angle piece 28, but has its flanges closer to the corner guide in correspondence with the thickness of a freeze board 32. This relative horizontal spacing between the angle pieces is best seen in FIG. 6. In this regard, the guide line holder 20 has its notches 24 so located that they will vertically aline with respective of the inside faces of the lower angle piece 28 when the holder is sleeved on the corner guide. Holes 33 may be `provided in the flanges of the upper angle piece 31 for receiving supplementary anchoring nails.

Similarly to the outer corner guide, the inner corner guide 11 has foot and head plates 34-35 provided with upstanding angle pieces 'S6-37, respectively. The primary differences reside in the fact that the angle pieces 36-37 face oppositely from the angle pieces 28 and 31 and have the `apexes of their back faces 36u-37a coinciding positionwise, relative to the respective guide standard, with the apexes of the back faces 28a, 31a of the angle pieces 28, 31.

The foot plate 38 of the intermediate guide 13, on the other hand, extends at right angles thereto as distinguished from diagonally and has a single upstanding brick engageable ange piece 40 paralleling a face of the guide. Likewise, the head plate 41 of the intermediate guide has an upright flange piece 42 paralleling the ange 40 and located closer to the guide standard by the thickness of a freeze board. The back faces of the anges 40, 42 are spaced from the longitudinal center line of the intermediate guide standard the same distance as the back faces of the angle pieces 28, 31 and 36, 37 are spaced from the longitudinal center apexes of their respective standards.

Preparatory to positioning `one of the guides -12, its height is adjusted by turning the bolt 1S in the nut 17 so that it is slightly greater than the distance from the footing to the overlying freeze boards. This adjustment is made with the inner standard separated from the outer standard. Then the guide standard in assembled condition is tilted to engage the plate at its upper end beneath the freeze board until its upstanding upper piece 31, 37, or 42 engages the freeze board at the outside corner, inside corner, or side, whichever guide is being erected. The operator then grasps the outer standard and manually forces it along the footing toward the Wall. During this action the standard pivots at the freeze board and the spring 16 compresses sufliciently for the lower end of the standard to be forced into proper position. Thereafter, the loading of the spring 16 keeps the standard in place.

The guides 10-12 are installed in this manner about the structure to be bricked. In this regard, guides 12 can be used at corners as well as at intermediate points. The brick courses are then laid out on the guides as by marked tapes 43 applied `thereto with adhesive and the guide line holders set by the thumb screws 21 at the rst course. Next, guide lines 44 are stretched between the holders and anchored on the cleats 22. The foot plates 27, 34 and 3S are embedded in the mortar for ythe bottom course, the resulting cavities being lled after removal of the guides upon finishing the laying of the brick walls. As each course is laid the holders 20 are slid upwardly along the guide standards to the next course marking on the tapes 43. When the holders reach the top of the outer standards they pick up the collars as before described.

For use with the outer corner guides 10 in the laying of particularly high walls I provide a spacing attachment 45 which has a U-shaped collar section 46 and an L- shaped spacing section 47 formed integral therewith. The collar section 46 sleeves on the guide and the spacing section 47 is arranged to engage the corner of the portion of the `brick wall already laid. In this manner the wall helps to prevent the guide standard from bowing toward the corner responsive to the tension on the guide lines. The attachment 45 is progressively moved up the standard behind the guide line holder and makes it possible to use lighter stock for the standard than would be otherwise possible.

As best seen in FIG. 9, I provide sets of holes 48 in the collar section 46 to selectively receive pegs 49. These pegs can be thereby set at predetermined distances from the wall face and receive auxiliary guide lines 50 to indicate, for example, the end face plane of a row of sill bricks which project beyond the wall.

It will be appreciated that if freeze boards are not present the guides 111-12 can be jambed against other structure whether permanent or temporary for the specific purpose.

In FIGS. 10-11 I have shown a modified guide for use with a conventional wood stud as part of the standard. The outer standard part of this modified guide comprises a socket 51 mounted on a base 52 which extends as a foot plate 53 therebeyond. Mounted in the socket by a weld attachment to the base 52 is a compression spring 54 having the same function as the spring 16 in the aforedescribed embodiment. Preferably this spring 54 does not extend as high as the rim of the socket. The side wall 55 adjoining the foot plate 53 is given the same width as the freeze board so as to define the respective outer face of the wall to be laid. In the use of the modified guide a stud 56 cut somewhat higher than the wall height and a stop strip 57 is nailed at right angles thereto at a distance from the lower end of the stud somewhat less than the wall height. Then the lower end of the stud is placed in the socket 51 as an inner standard and positioned with the stop strip 57 resting against the bot-tom edge of the freeze board. The foot of the guide is then forced as before into position by compression of the spring 54. A guide line block or holder is sleeved on the stud 56 and is the same as the holder 20 before described except for dimensions. As in the case of the guide 12 this modied guide can be used at corners as well as at intermediate points.

The advantages of the invention will, it is thought, have been clearly understood from the foregoing detailed description of the embodiment which I have elected to illustrate. Minor changes in the details of the construction will suggest themselves and may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, wherefor it is my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claim be given a scope fully commensurate with the broadest interpretation to which the employed language admits.

What I claim is:

In guide apparatus for use in laying brick walls, a standard having telescopically associated outer and inner members adapted to be located in upright position adjacent a wall to be laid, guide line holding means sleeved on said outer member, and a movable collar mounted on said inner member, said collar corresponding in crosssection to said outer telescoping member and having an axial length no greater than that of said line holding means, a set screw, said collar and line holding means having radial holes therethrough arranged to register and receive said set screw when said guide line holding means is sleeved on said collar, whereby said guide line holding means can be selectively locked by said set screw anywhere along the length of said standard in concentric relationship thereto.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 670,585 Fowler Mar. 26, 1901 1,234,222 Butler July 24, 1917 1,875,977 Beckwith Sept. 6, 1932 2,623,289 Kampel Dec. 30, 1952 2,761,214 Ruble Sept. 4, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 662,028 Great Britain Nov. 28, 1951 796,701 Great Britain .Tune 18, 1958 1.189,455v France Mar. 23, 1959 

